System for influencing the speed of a motor vehicle

ABSTRACT

System for evaluating the traffic environment of a motor vehicle and for influencing the speed of the motor vehicle in its own traffic lane, comprising an electronic control unit (ECU), which is connected to a signal transmitter that produces a signal characteristic of the desired speed of the motor vehicle, a signal transmitter that produces a signal characteristic of the yaw of the motor vehicle about its vertical axis, a signal transmitter that produces a signal characteristic of the articles situated, in the direction of travel of the motor vehicle, in front of the motor vehicle in terms of their spacing and orientation relative to the motor vehicle and which reproduces the speed relative to the speed of the system motor vehicle and/or the spacing relative to the system motor vehicle and/or the angular offset or the cross track distance relative to the vehicle longitudinal axis of the system motor vehicle, and a signal transmitter that produces a signal characteristic of the speed of at least one wheel of the motor vehicle, and which is connected to at least one control device, which influences the performance of the motor vehicle, in order to supply said device with output signals derived from the performance of the motor vehicle situated in front of the system motor vehicle, in which in the electronic control unit (ECU) the width of the system motor vehicle traffic lane is modified in dependence upon the distance of articles detected in the space in front of the system motor vehicle from the system motor vehicle, wherein the width in the close range and in the remote range is smaller than in the medium range.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system for influencing the speed of amotor vehicle. Such control systems are increasingly used under thedescription ACC (Autonomous/Adaptive Cruise Control) in motor vehicles,in particular top-of-the-range and upper-mid-range class models.

PRIOR ART

Devices are known that regulate the driving speed of a motor vehicle, inwhich the driver can preset a desired speed and the driving speed of themotor vehicle can be brought to and maintained at this target speed bymeans of a speed regulator as long as this device is activated. However,with this system there is no monitoring of the driving speed of avehicle in front. The driver therefore has to act when his vehicleapproaches the vehicle in front. Likewise, the driver can however alsocorrespondingly increase the speed of his vehicle if the speed of thevehicle in front increases.

A device that takes over from the driver the task of monitoring thedistance to the vehicle in front and that matches the speed of thedriver's vehicle to the speed of a vehicle in front is described forexample in EP-A-0 612 641.

THE PROBLEM FORMING THE BASIS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In order to broaden successfully the use of such ACC systems, a saferand more reliable operation of this system is necessary, which alsoresults in better driving comfort and thus in an improved acceptabilitywhen driving. In particular the invention is concerned with the problemsof improving the selection of a so-called target vehicle which thedriver's vehicle can follow with high reliability.

SOLUTION ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION

The system according to the invention sets itself a width of thevehicle's lane which depends at first on the vehicle dimensions plus asafety allowance of about 0.1 to 0.7 meter on either side. On a straightstretch the vehicle's own lane would have an essentially rectangularconfiguration whose length—considered at any time—is somewhat less thanthe range of the radar sensor. In the electronic control unit thisessentially rectangular lane is pictured as a data structure.

The invention is in this case based on the finding that a more intensiveevaluation of the environment where the driver's vehicle travels isrequired. The results of this evaluation of the driving environment havethen also to be taken in consideration when influencing the speed of thedriver's vehicle.

The width of the vehicle's own lane is modified in the electroniccontrol unit in response to the distance of objects detected in thespace in front of the driver's vehicle to the driver's vehicle, with thewidth in the near region and in the remote region being smaller than inthe middle region.

According to the invention, for example, the width of the lane isspecified in the near region (about 0-50 m) and in the remote region(150+ meters) smaller than in the middle region (50-150 meters). Thisimproves the reliability and the overall efficiency of the systemaccording to the invention considerably.

ELABORATIONS AND ADVANTAGEOUS DEVELOPMENTS ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION

The function of an ACC system of the type according to the invention isbased on the fact that a sensor, generally a radar sensor, with arelatively narrow detection region and as a rule rigidly fixed facingforwards, is arranged on the front part of the driver's vehicle. Thissensor serves to detect objects present in the detection region and tonotify an electronic control unit accordingly (including distance andlateral deviation or angular position relative to the mid axis of thesensor or motor vehicle, as well as possibly the size of the object).

From the data provided by the sensor as well as from some other dataobtained in the driver's vehicle (speed, turning rate or yawing rateabout the vertical axis of the driver's vehicle, transverse accelerationof the driver's vehicle, etc.) the lane or the traffic corridor of thedriver's vehicle is then first of all determined in the electroniccontrol unit. Based on this, as a rule the nearest motor vehicle in thedriver's traffic corridor is then determined according to specificcriteria as the target vehicle in front in order to regulate thedistance to this vehicle by engaging the speed control, the gear changeand the braking system. In this way it is possible for the driver'svehicle to follow a vehicle in front at a safe distance (possiblydepending on the speed and other factors), in which connection thedetermination and maintenance of the safe distance is effected byinterventions in the speed control system and in the braking system ofthe driver's vehicle independently of the driver. As a rule the driveronly has to set a desired speed of his vehicle and/or a desired distanceof his vehicle from a target vehicle.

In other words the invention provides a system for evaluating thedriving environment of a vehicle and for influencing the speed of thevehicle. This system has an electronic control unit that is connected toa signal generator that generates a signal characteristic of the desiredspeed/desired safe distance of the vehicle. In addition theinstantaneous (actual) speed of the driver's vehicle is fed to theelectronic control unit.

Furthermore the electronic control unit is connected to a signalgenerator that generates a signal characteristic of the turning rate ofthe vehicle about its vertical axis.

In addition the electronic control unit is connected to a signalgenerator that generates a signal characteristic of objects located inthe space in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel of thevehicle, in terms of their distance and orientation with respect to thesaid vehicle. In this connection the signal generator may involve aradar sensor, an ultrasound or infrared sensor, but also an image sensor(video camera). The space scanned with the sensor is roughly conical orlobar and, depending on the actual environmental circumstances, has alength of about 100-250 meters and a cone angle of about 12°. A reliabledetection/selection can thus be made for objects that are located at adistance of about 170±30 meters from the driver's vehicle and/or thatare moving within this region in front of the driver's vehicle.

Finally, the electronic control unit is connected to a signal generatorthat generates a signal characteristic of the (rotational) speed of atleast one wheel of the vehicle. This may for example be the rotationalspeed transmitter of the anti-lock braking system (ABS). The signalsfrom these signal generators are processed in the electronic controlunit by means of one or more computing units. The results therebyobtained are fed as output signals, derived from the movement behaviorof the vehicle in front of the driver's vehicle, from the electroniccontrol unit to at least one control device that influences the movementbehavior of the driver's vehicle.

Since the detection of the objects takes place in a time frame of a fewtens of milliseconds (for example 50 milliseconds), the time changes ofthe positions of the individual objects can be established in theelectronic control unit. By taking account of the movement or movementsof the driver's vehicle, movements of the objects as well as possiblytheir relative speed can also be calculated in the electronic controlunit. From these results the electronic control unit then specifieswhether the object is “stationary”, “moving in substantially the samedirection as the driver's vehicle” or “moving substantially in theopposite direction to the driver's vehicle”.

In other words, from signals emitted by the signal generator, whichgenerates a signal that is characteristic of objects located in thespace in front of the vehicle and in the direction of travel of thevehicle as regards their distance and orientation with respect to thevehicle, for objects located in this space at least their speed relativeto the speed of the driver's vehicle, their distance relative to thedriver's vehicle, as well as the angular displacement or the lateraldeviation relative to the longitudinal axis of the driver's vehicle arecontinuously detected and evaluated in the electronic control unit.

In this connection, the number of monitored objects is limited forpractical reasons. Stationary targets, i.e. those whose relative speedin the direction of travel of the driver's vehicle is equal to the speedof the driver's vehicle but with opposite sign, are excluded. Objectsclose to the driver's vehicle are given preference over objects furtherfrom the vehicle.

All objects that are in any case classified by the electronic controlunit as target objects on account of the signals detected by the radarsensor are grouped in an object table, in which are also included therespective properties and data of the objects and are input and updatedon the basis of the continuous (new) calculations by the electroniccontrol unit.

In particular, in order to reduce the number of possible targets on thecarriageway in front of the driver's vehicle, as a rule not all thedetection space—bounded by the cone angle of the (radar) sensor—butinstead a correspondingly reduced region is evaluated. This measurereduces the number of objects to be taken into account. For the sake ofsimplicity however—unless otherwise specifically indicated—it will beassumed hereinafter that the actually evaluated region and the detectionspace in front of the driver's vehicle are the same.

As explained hereinbefore, a stage in the determination of the vehicleto be “followed” by the driver's vehicle is the determination of thedriver's own lane. This is defined by its mid line, its width and, as anapproximation, by sections of constant radius of curvature. In order todefine the mid line in the driver's lane in the space detected in frontof the driver's vehicle, the present system modifies the radius ofcurvature R of the path curve of the centre of gravity of the driver'svehicle on the basis of the change in angular bearing of the objects infront and change in the absolute position of the objects in frontcompared to the instantaneously predicted lane in the electronic controlunit.

In this connection the speed of the driver's vehicle divided by itsinstantaneous rate of turning, which is defined as initial value for theradius of curvature R (for example where there are no objects in front),is passed by the corresponding signal generator to the electroniccontrol unit. The radius of curvature of the path curve is then modifiedin the electronic control unit by the lateral speeds depending onobjects moving in the space detected in front of the vehicle.

Some further criteria that lead to a change in the curvature and thatare taken into account and evaluated by the program operating in theelectronic control unit in the updating of the radius of curvature arethe following: (i) the residence time of the objects moving in the spacedetected by the sensor in front of the device, (ii) the speed, in thedirection of travel of the driver's vehicle, of the objects moving inthe space detected in front of the driver's vehicle, and/or (iii) thedistance from the driver's vehicle of the objects moving in the spacedetected in front of the driver's vehicle.

If the driver's vehicle is traveling at low speed the radius ofcurvature is also reduced, since an enhanced stability (low backgroundnoise, or constancy) of the signal reproducing the lateral position ofthe vehicle is achieved in this way. Preferably for this purpose a(non-linear) reduction factor is included for this purpose in a table.

The extent to which changes in the curve radius are permissible alsodepends on the curve radius itself. With a very small curve radius arelatively high rate of change is permitted. In particular when leavinga curve it then happens that on a straight stretch following the curve,the correct lane of the vehicle in front that was selected as targetvehicle—but also the driver's own lane—is quickly found again.

The system according to the invention specifies a width of the driver'sown lane that first of all depends on the vehicle measurements plus asafety factor of about 0.2-0.7 meter on each side. On a straight stretchthe driver's lane would accordingly be substantially rectangular inshape, the length of which—considered at any point in time—is somewhatless than the range of the radar sensor. This substantially rectangularlane is simulated as data structure in the electronic control unit. Inthis connection the width of the lane in the near region (about 0-50meters) and in the far region (150+ meters) is specified to be smallerthan in the middle region (50-150 meters).

In order to maintain the data structure in the electronic control unitas efficiently as possible, in the system according to the invention thewidth of the driver's lane is specified in the electronic control unitonly at those points in the space in front of the driver's vehicle atwhich objects are also located in the space detected in front of thedriver's vehicle.

The system modifies in the electronic control unit the width of thedriver's lane depending on the distance of detected objects in the spacein front of the driver's vehicle and the orientation of a curve in theelectronic control unit, so that at large distances (150+ meters) thewidth at the outside of the curve decreases, and at middle distances(50-150 meters) the width at the inside of the curve increases. Thisprocedure reduces the selection of unsuitable objects as target vehiclesthat are “followed” by the driver's vehicle.

In order that small lateral movements of the target vehicle to befollowed do not result in these lateral movements being recognised bythe electronic control unit as a change in lane of this vehicle, thewidth of the driver's lane (and thus also the lane of the target vehicleto be followed) is widened in the electronic control unit (ECU) on bothsides at the point at which the target vehicle is situated.

Similarly, the driver's lane is also widened in the electronic controlunit on both sides at the point at which the said target vehicle islocated, depending on the time for which the movement behavior of thedriver's vehicle depends on the movement behavior of this targetvehicle.

In addition to or instead of the above measure for stabilising themovement behavior of the driver's vehicle, the width of the driver'slane may also be modified in the electronic control unit, depending onthe “curveness” of the road on which the driver's vehicle is traveling.In particular, in this case the width is reduced if the road has a lotof curves. For this purpose the instantaneous radius of curvature andpossibly also the radius of curvature very slightly beforehand is/areevaluated in the electronic control unit. For a small radius ofcurvature the width is reduced.

The same also applies to the measure, similarly in accordance with theinvention, of modifying, at least by sections, in the electronic controlunit, the width of the driver's lane, depending on the speed of thedriver's vehicle. If the driver's vehicle is traveling at high speed,the width of the driver's lane is increased in order to prevent thetarget vehicle already being “lost” on account of slight lateralmovements of the driver's vehicle or of the vehicle being followed.

A further criterion in determining the optimal target vehicle in front,on the movement behavior of which is to be made dependent the movementbehavior of the driver's vehicle, is the determination of the lanes ofthe road on which the driver's vehicle is moving. In this connection noattempt is made to find boundary markings of the lane, which in any caseoften do not exist. Instead, the behavior of the other objects moving inthe space detected in front of the driver's vehicle is evaluated inorder to obtain feedback on how many lanes the road has, and on which ofthese lanes the driver's vehicle is moving.

The system according to the invention operates so-called lane lists forthree lanes in the direction of movement of the driver's vehicle as wellas for three lanes in the opposite direction. In principle, for thispurpose the time course of the lateral deviation (i.e. the lateraldisplacement of the respective object compared to the mid axis of thedriver's vehicle and/or the course of the predicted lane) is smoothed inthe electronic control unit for each moving object from the object tableby means of a low-pass filter with a short time constant and is thenintegrated.

In order to generate the lane lists from the object table and updatethem, first of all the driver's lane is defined. For this purposeobjects at the side edges of the detected space are weighted with asmall weighting factor and objects in the middle region of the detectedspace are weighted with a higher weighting factor. Similarly, very farobjects and very near objects with a large lateral deviation areweighted with a small weighting factor. All objects with a lowevaluation value have in common the fact that their exact lateralposition can be determined only with difficulty and is also subject to ahigh degree of uncertainty. For this reason they should have only a lowimportance in the lane determination.

The driver's lane is determined in the electronic control unit from theobjects weighted in this way, taking into account the movements of thedriver's vehicle.

On the basis of these results for the individual objects, moving objectsare classified in the electronic control unit as objects in the driver'slane if an object further away than a minimum distance stays in thedriver's lane for a predetermined period of time that is related to thesum of the stay duration in one or both adjacent lanes that exceeds athreshold value dependent on the distance of the object.

On the basis of the above determination of the objects in the driver'slane, in order to optimize and adapt the function to different boundaryconditions and environments the predetermined period of time can bemodified in the electronic control unit depending on the speed of thedriver's vehicle.

Also, the threshold value can be reduced in the electronic control unitas the distance of the object from the driver's vehicle becomes less.

Finally, moving objects detected in the space in front of the driver'svehicle are classified in the electronic control unit as objects locatedto the left or right of the driver's lane if an object at thecorresponding distance is located left of the left-hand boundary of thedriver's lane or right of the right-hand boundary of the driver's lane.

For vehicles coming in the opposite direction a lane allocation issimilarly made on the basis of their direction of travel and theirrespective lateral deviation.

Overall, according to the invention the residence duration of allobjects is determined for the existing lanes with respect to thedriver's lane and weighted over time, in which connection laterappearances of objects in the lane of the driver's vehicle are evaluatedhigher than earlier appearances, and spatially distant appearances ofobjects in the lane of the driver's vehicle are given a lower evaluationthan spatially closer appearances. In this way it can be reliablydetermined whether the object is traveling in the driver's lane.

When choosing the target object behind which “to drive up to”, thisreduces the probability of a incorrect choice. From the existing lanes amaximum of two moving objects are now in each case selected in theelectronic control unit and characterized as priority objects if theyhave been detected as such moving in front of the driver's vehicle for aperiod of time exceeding a minimum value, in which connection thisrespective duration of each object is weighted less for objects locatedvery close to the driver's vehicle (ca. 0-ca. 30 m). The number ofcandidates from which the target vehicle is selected is thereby alreadygreatly restricted.

This maximum number of six objects are those objects that are ofparticular importance for the movement behavior of the driver's vehicle.Accordingly, to a first approximation it is sufficient to consider thesesix objects in order to match the instantaneous movement behavior of thedriver's vehicle with respect to them. In this connection, for eachpriority object it is established in the electronic control unit how fareach priority object changes its lateral position relative to the midline of the lane of the driver's vehicle. In this way the sum of themean values of the lateral position changes of the priority objects isdetermined as alteration value of the lane of the driver's vehicle atthe respective distance to the said driver's vehicle.

The electronic control unit now selects from the priority objects thatobject as target object, on the movement behavior of which the movementbehavior of the driver's vehicle is to be dependent, which (i) is movingin the lane of the driver's vehicle, (ii) has a direction of movementover the ground that coincides substantially with the direction ofmovement of the driver's vehicle, and (iii) has already been detectedduring a predetermined duration in the space in front of the driver'svehicle.

The program operating in the electronic control unit chooses as targetvehicle from the priority objects preferably that object, on themovement behavior of which the movement behavior of the driver's vehicleis to be dependent, in which the transverse speed relative to the midline of the driver's lane does not exceed a threshold value. To thisend, for the individual objects their lateral deviation from the targetlist is preferably differentiated according to time. In this connectionthe threshold value can be changed depending on the distance of therespective object to the driver's vehicle. These measures ensure thatpreferably a vehicle that has a relatively smooth movement behavior ischosen as the target vehicle to be followed. As a result of this theprobability that this selected vehicle is “goes missing from the sensordetection” is also slight, which in turn leads to a smoother movementbehavior of the driver's vehicle.

As a further improvement of the certainty of detection, in particular inorder to avoid mirror effects of the sensor beam (at the carriagewayboundary or at other, possibly moving, objects), a value that reproducesthe background noise amplitude of the bearing angle for each of theobjects is held by the electronic control unit in the target list foreach object and is regularly updated. For all objects the timeprogression of this value is smoothed in the electronic control unit bymeans of a low-pass filter. If the smoothed value progression for anobject exceeds a distance-dependent threshold value, this object isexcluded from the choice of target vehicle.

A further way of improving the stability of the system—i.e. for avoidingincorrect choices—is if the electronic control unit excludes a priorityobject from the target list from which the choice of target vehicle ismade if (i) its distance to the driver's vehicle is less than a distancethreshold value, (ii) the absolute value of the bearing angle withrespect to this priority object is greater than an angle threshold value(for example 4°), and (iii) this priority object was not previouslychosen as target vehicle. In this way it is ensured thatan—unnecessary—change of the target vehicle or switching backwards andforwards between two (presumably) “equally good” objects is avoided.This has the positive effect that an increase or decrease of the speedof the driver's vehicle associated with the change to a new targetvehicle is avoided.

The system according to the invention continuously evaluates for thetarget vehicle the change in the bearing angle seen from the driver'svehicle as well as the turning rate for the driver's vehicle in order todetect any change in lane of the driver's vehicle. For this purpose itis established whether the change in the bearing angle relative to thetarget vehicle, on the movement behavior of which the movement behaviorof the driver's vehicle is to be dependent, exceeds a specifiedthreshold value and is substantially equal to the turning rate of thedriver's vehicle with reverse sign.

In order to recognize whether the driver's vehicle is traveling in acurve, in the electronic control unit a quantity related to thecurvature of the lane of the driver's vehicle is fed as input signal inparallel to a plurality of low-pass filters with different timeconstants (less than preferably 1^(st) order). The output signals of thelow-pass filters and the input signal are compared with one another. Ifthe output signals (amplitudes) have a respective minimum distance toone another and the output signal of a respective low-pass filter isless than the output signal of a low-pass filter with a smaller timeconstant and is greater than the output signal of a low-pass filter witha larger time constant, or the output signal of a respective low-passfilter is greater than the output signal of a low-pass filter with asmaller time constant and is less than the output signal of a low-passfilter with a larger time constant, then when the driver's vehicle ismoving on the road this is recognized as a transition from a curve ofone orientation to a curve of the opposite orientation. If theelectronic control unit has established that the driver's vehicle isexecuting a curve transition, for example is in an S-curve, the lengthof the evaluated lane is reduced since in this situation differentobjects can very often change their lateral deviation to a very greatextent. With a reduced evaluation length, in particular objects movingat a relatively large distance in front of the driver's vehicle areexcluded from consideration. Since the probability that an objectdriving at a relatively large distance in front of the driver's vehiclewill appear erroneously in the driver's lane is relatively high in sucha situation, the error rate is lowered by reducing the evaluationlength.

An essential aspect in the environment recognition is recognizing thetype of road. The recognition of the type of road is of advantage for anoptimal matching when selecting the target vehicle and when regulatingthe speed of the driver's vehicle. This is based on the knowledge thatdifferent types of road require a significantly different matching ofindividual system parameters (length and width of the lane or lanes tobe evaluated, acceleration thresholds, etc.) in order to operate thesystem optimally, in other words so that it corresponds as exactly aspossible to the driver's expectations.

The system according to the invention evaluates the speed of thedriver's vehicle, the number of recognised lanes having the samedirection of travel as that of the driver's vehicle, the curvature ofthe lanes, etc. In order to realize this, according to the invention acharacteristic value is determined that exhibits non-fixed transitionsand is defined as environment speed. This characteristic value has thedimension of speed (distance/time).

In order to distinguish the type of road on which the driver's vehicleis traveling, the system according to the invention determines in theelectronic control unit characteristic values for at least two differentroad environments (urban traffic, trunk roads, motorways), in whichconnection a quantity influencing the respective characteristic value isthe environment speed, preferably found by calculating the mean valuefrom the speeds of the objects detected in the space in front of thedriver's vehicle as well as from the speed of the driver's vehicle. Inthis connection the road environments do not have fixed limiting valuesbut instead variable limits.

The “environment speed” value is about 120 km/hour-150 km/hour if it isin the “motorway” range. This applies even if the actual speed at whichthe vehicle is traveling is momentarily lower or higher. In the “trunkroad” range the value is about 60 km/hour-100 km/hour. In the “urbantraffic” range the value is about 30 km/hour-50 km/hour.

If a journey takes place over a fairly long time at a relativelyprolonged high speed and small turning amplitudes, the electroniccontrol unit increases the “environment speed” value stepwise so that itcomes into the “motorway” range (120 km/hour-150 km/hour). When drivingover a section with a curve radius and with a length such as arenormally encountered in motorway journeys and at a correspondingconsiderably reduced speed, the “environment speed” value is quicklyreduced to a value of for example 50 km/hour-70 km/hour, whichcorresponds to the “trunk road” range, even if the instantaneous speedat which the vehicle is traveling exceeds this value.

In the system according to the invention, in the electronic control unitthe “environment speed” value is approximated via a predefined function(for example incline, stage) from an instantaneous contribution at theactual speed of the driver's vehicle. Preferably an approximation from ahigher value than the instantaneous contribution of the actual speed ismade at a first speed rate and an approximation from a lower value thanthe instantaneous contribution of the actual speed is made at a secondspeed rate, preferably considerably higher than the first speed rate. Inthis way it is ensured that speed reductions of short duration, forexample on a motorway in the region of roadworks, or on account of aslower vehicle that has crossed into the lane of the driver's vehicle,do not cause a sudden return into the “trunk road” or even “urbantraffic” value range.

Furthermore, in the electronic control unit the “environment speed”value is increased by a predefined function (for example incline, stage)if at least two other objects driving substantially next to one anotherare located in front of the driver's vehicle and the driver's vehicle istraveling at an actual speed that lies in the “trunk road” range. The“environment speed” value is hereby raised by a third speed rate,preferably considerably larger than the second speed rate. In particularan upper threshold value can be reached in this way if a relatively highspeed is reached for a relatively long time on a multi-lane highwayoutside a built-up area.

Also, the “environment speed” value is reduced to a low limiting valuevia a predefined function (for example incline, stage) if the“environment speed” value and the instantaneous turning rate of thedriver's vehicle were to result in a transverse acceleration thatexceeds a threshold value. In this case the “environment speed” value isreduced at a fourth speed rate, preferably considerably higher than thethird speed rate. This ensures that the “environment speed” value isreduced very quickly in tight curves.

Finally, the “environment speed” value is limited to a predeterminablemultiple (for example 1.2) of the desired speed of the vehicle. Thismeasure is based on the consideration that when there is a change inenvironment, for example from urban traffic to trunk road or motorway,this is followed by a change, made by the driver, of the desired speed.Thus, also with a relatively smooth traffic flow on multi-lane roadsoutside built-up areas the “motorway” speed value cannot be achievedwithout an intervention by the driver.

The “environment speed” value can assume at most a predeterminable lowerlimiting/threshold value and a predeterminable upper limiting/thresholdvalue.

The curvature progression of the lane on which the driver's vehicle istraveling is differentiated according to the route in the systemaccording to the invention. Depending on the result a “curveness”characteristic value is determined that is independent of the speed ofthe driver's vehicle.

The result of differentiating the curvature progression of the lane inwhich the driver's vehicle is traveling is also evaluated in theelectronic control unit in order, in the case of long straight sectionsof the lane, to reduce the “curveness” characteristic value at apredetermined rate over a specified stretch of highway, depending on theabove result.

The result of differentiating the curvature progression in the lane inwhich the driver's vehicle is traveling is also evaluated in theelectronic control unit in order in the case of S-curves (two reversecurved sections without a straight intermediate section) to increase the“curveness” characteristic value at a predetermined increment dependingon the above result.

In the system according to the invention, if a signal is present thatreproduces a curvature of the lane of the driver's vehicle that liesabove a first predetermined value, then the “curveness” characteristicvalue is increased in the electronic control unit at a high increment bya dynamic component, and when the turning rate signal lying above asecond predetermined value disappears, the dynamic component isrestored. In this way a rapid reduction of the “environment speed” valueis achieved, in particular when traveling along curves with a smallcurve radius, without this causing the vehicle to leave the “motorway”range for the “environment speed” value when for example negotiatingmotorway junctions or intersections.

In order to improve still further the reduction in the number ofincorrect choices, also in the electronic control unit in the systemaccording to the invention the dynamic component in the case ofright-hand traffic is added to the “curveness” value only for right-handcurves and in the case of left-hand traffic is subtracted from the“curveness” value only for left-hand curves.

Preferably, in the electronic control unit the dynamic component ismodified depending on the average curvature of the lane and the changein direction of travel after entering the curve. In this connection thecurve entry is defined as the point in time at which the curvaturesignal exceeds the first predetermined threshold value. The change indirection of travel is obtained from the integral of the yawing rate ofthe vehicle over time.

When choosing the target vehicle there is the problem that a desired,earliest possible detection of potential target objects leads of courseto an increased stability or rest when “following” this target vehiclealready detected a long way in front of the driver's vehicle. Inparticular in the case of motorways containing curves, there is in thiscase also the danger of course that a false target vehicle will beselected that is not actually in the driver's lane. The inventionaccordingly provides a procedure that permits an estimate of howsusceptible the actual target choice is to an incorrect selection onaccount of the environmental situation.

In this connection, in the system according to the invention, those ofthe priority objects that are more distant than others from the driver'svehicle are, depending on the curveness value, excluded from the choiceas target vehicle.

In order to make the selection of priority objects as reliable andefficient as possible, it is advantageous if the system has access toinformation as to whether the driver's vehicle is moving in anenvironment with left-hand traffic or right-hand traffic. On the basisof this an asymmetrization of the selection can be undertaken. Accordingto the invention, based on this information vehicles in the “slower” or“faster” lane than the driver's lane are preferentially excluded as“false priority targets” from the selection, than other vehiclessituated in the driver's lane. Also, according to the invention a higheracceleration is effected after moving into the “faster” lane, etc.

In addition, according to the invention, in the case of an “active orpassive” overtaking procedure it is established on which side theovertaking vehicle is situated when overtaking. To this end the speedsof vehicles driving in the existing lanes in front of the driver'svehicle are determined in the electronic control unit and from thisinformation a characteristic value is derived that indicates whether thedriver's vehicle is in left-hand traffic or right-hand traffic.

In addition the stretch already traveled or a quantity correlatedtherewith is determined from a predetermined number of the vehiclestraveling in front of the driver's vehicle in the existing lanes, and isrelated to the corresponding quantity for the driver's vehicle bydetermining the characteristic value as the sum of the difference of thespeeds of the vehicles of a first, preferably left-hand, lane and thespeeds of the vehicles of a second, preferably right-hand lane.

In order to increase the recognition reliability an upper thresholdvalue and a lower threshold value are defined, in which the electroniccontrol unit generates a “right-hand traffic” signal and stores this ifthe characteristic value exceeds the upper threshold value, and theelectronic control unit generates a “left-hand traffic” signal andstores this if the characteristic value is below the lower thresholdvalue.

Preferably only speeds of vehicles that exceed a predetermined thresholdvalue are taken into account. This avoids incorrect evaluations onaccount of traffic moving in convoy or in built-up areas.

In order to avoid errors in the lane allocation, vehicles traveling infront of the driver's vehicle are only evaluated if the radius of thelane exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

In order to improve further the selection reliability, the determinationcan in addition or instead of the evaluation of the speeds of thevehicles in the same direction of travel as the driver's vehicle, alsoestablish on which side of the driver's vehicle vehicles traveling inthe opposite direction are situated. In addition, in the case ofvehicles with a negative relative speed in relation to the speed of thedriver's vehicle, whose contribution is greater than the speed of thedriver's vehicle, the sign of the respective characteristic value isreversed in the control unit before the summation procedure.

In this connection, for vehicles with a negative relative speed inrelation to the speed of the driver's vehicle, whose contribution isgreater than the speed of the driver's vehicle, the characteristic valuecan be provided with a weighting factor.

Since as explained above, the detection space in front of the driver'svehicle broadens out substantially conically before the front part ofthe vehicle symmetrically with respect to its mid-line axis with arelatively narrow cone angle, in the case of sharp curves the targetvehicle may be “lost”.

Immediately after the loss of the target vehicle it may then happen thatthe speed of the driver's vehicle is increased by the electronic controlunit. The result of this is that the vehicle travels at increased speedon a curve situation or accelerates in the curve. Consequently thedriver must intervene and brake. In order to avoid this, according tothe invention a control signal is generated in the electronic controlunit if it is established that a target vehicle is leaving the detectionspace in front of the driver's vehicle, which control signal limits atleast for a section the instantaneous speed or the instantaneousacceleration of the driver's vehicle to a value that substantiallycorresponds at most to the distance X between the driver's vehicle andthe target vehicle at the time when the latter leaves the detectionspace.

In this way the speed of the driver's vehicle remains constant orincreases only slightly until the driver's vehicle has reached the curveor the place at which the target vehicle was “lost”. This means aconsiderable gain in comfort and safety, since even on sectionscontaining many curves scarcely any or indeed no braking actions by thedriver are necessary. The driver basically still only has tocontrol/steer the vehicle, while the target vehicle, due to itsdeceleration on approaching a curve or acceleration after leaving acurve, supplies the corresponding “correction” for the electroniccontrol unit in the driver's vehicle. The electronic control unitcorrespondingly bridges the time between “losing” and “finding” thetarget vehicle again.

Since the loss of the target vehicle as a rule occurs only when thelatter is already on the curve, in a preferred embodiment the distance Xbetween the driver's vehicle and the target vehicle at the time thetarget vehicle leaves the detection space is reduced in the electroniccontrol unit by a shortening section DX to an effective distance Xeff.The shortening section DX has to be changed depending on the environment(motorway, trunk road, urban traffic), the speed of the target vehicleat the time the latter leaves the detection space, the instantaneousspeed of the driver's vehicle, the curve radii of curves alreadypreviously traversed within a predetermined period of time, or the like.

In this connection the shortening section DX can also be determined fromthe average value of the curve radii of curves already previouslytraversed within a predetermined period of time.

The control signal contains information on the latter, or ischaracteristic of a maximum time duration that is obtained from theinstantaneous speed of the driver's vehicle and the distance X betweenthe driver's vehicle and the target vehicle at the time the latterleaves the detection space, or is obtained from the effective distanceXeff.

In order to improve further the reliability when selecting the targetvehicle, the determination can also establish whether an object that issituated in the detection space in front of the driver's vehicle fallsshort of a predetermined distance and is not located in the lane of thedriver's vehicle, is to be excluded from the choice of priority object.This strategy according to the invention takes into account the factthat for targets at a small distance from the driver's vehicle, theposition determination can no longer be carried out with the necessaryaccuracy. Since such objects are still detected by the so-called sidelobes of a radar sensor, it appears as if they had cut into the driver'slane from an adjacent lane.

Furthermore, an object that is located on the mid-line axis of thesensor of the driver's vehicle outside a predetermined angle or thatexceeds a predetermined angle can be excluded from the choice ofpriority object.

The same also applies to an object that was not a target object during apredetermined period of time in the past.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details, functions, alternatives and modifications of theinvention are discussed hereinafter with the aid of the description ofthe drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a systemaccording to the invention for evaluating the driving environment of avehicle;

FIG. 2 explains the relationships of the individual physical quantitiesdetected by the radar sensor in the system according to the inventionfor evaluating the driving environment of a vehicle according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates how the system according to the invention shown inFIG. 1 processes the data signals received from the various sensors;

FIG. 4 illustrates the situation of a vehicle with a system according tothe invention for evaluating the driving environment of a vehicle on amulti-lane straight section of highway;

FIG. 5 illustrates the situation of a vehicle with a system according tothe invention for evaluating the driving environment of a vehicle on amulti-lane curved section of highway;

FIG. 5 a shows the probability distribution that a vehicle isencountered in a left-hand, central or right-hand lane;

FIG. 6 shows the calculated background noise amplitude of the bearingangle for each of the objects;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic block diagram and associated input and outputsignals for the recognition of left-hand or right-hand curves in asystem according to the invention for evaluating the driving environmentof a vehicle;

FIG. 8 shows the situation of a vehicle with a system according to theinvention for evaluating the driving environment of a vehicle whenrecognizing whether the vehicle is moving in right-hand traffic orleft-hand traffic; and

FIG. 9 illustrates the behavior of a vehicle with a system according tothe invention for evaluating the driving environment of a vehicle on acurved section of carriageway when the target vehicle is lost.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a schematic block diagram of a systemaccording to the invention for evaluating the driving environment of avehicle and for influencing the speed of the vehicle. This system has anelectronic control unit ECU, which is connected to a signal generatorthat generates a signal characteristic of the desired speed Vsoll of thevehicle. In addition the electronic control unit ECU receives from asignal generator acting as a yawing rate sensor, a signal characteristicof the turning rate dPSI/dt of the vehicle about its vertical axis.Also, the electronic control unit ECU is connected to a signal generatoracting as radar sensor RS.

The radar sensor RS generates for objects situated in the space in frontof the vehicle in the direction of travel of the vehicle, characteristicsignals with respect to their distance and orientation relative to thevehicle, which signals are passed to the electronic control unit ECU andare processed further in the latter in a manner described in more detailbelow. In addition the electronic control unit ECU receives from signalgenerators acting as wheel rotational speed sensors, as are necessaryfor example also for the ABS operation, signals v(VL), v(VR), v(HL),v(HR) characteristic of the speeds of the wheels VL, VR, HL, HR of thevehicle. As signal generator for the steering angle lock of the vehiclesteering wheel, an angle of rotation generator LW is connected to theelectronic control unit ECU, and as signal generator for the setting ofthe accelerator pedal of the vehicle, an angle of rotation generator FPis likewise connected to the electronic control unit ECU. The electroniccontrol unit ECU is connected to control devices in the form of theengine management system or to the electrical or electrohydraulicbraking system that have an influence on the driving behavior of thevehicle, in order to feed to these devices output signals that arederived from the driving behavior of the vehicle in front of thedriver's vehicle and possibly from the driving environment.

The radar sensor RS continuously scans the space in front of the vehicleand generates signals that are characteristic of objects X located inthe space in front of the vehicle, as regards their distance andorientation relative to the vehicle. In particular the speed v_rel_X ofthe object X relative to the speed v of the driver's vehicle, thedistance d_x relative to the driver's vehicle, the angular displacementAlpha_x or the lateral deviation relative to the longitudinal axis ofthe driver's vehicle are constantly measured and evaluated in theelectronic control unit ECU (see FIG. 2).

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the space in front of the vehicle scanned bythe sensor is roughly conical or lobate in shape and has, depending onthe actual environmental circumstances, a length of about 200-250 metersand a cone angle of about 12°. However, in order to improve theevaluation reliability only objects in a core region of about 8°-10° areconsidered. A reliable detection can thus be carried out for objectsthat are at a distance of at most about 200±30 meters from the driver'svehicle or that are moving in front of the latter within or below thisrange. This substantially rectangular lane is simulated as datastructure in the electronic control unit ECU and is subdivided into anear region (for example about 0-50 meters), a far region (for example150+ meters) and a middle region (for example 50-150 meters). In thisconnection the data signals may originate from special sensors providedfor the system according to the invention in the vehicle or from sensorsthat are also provided for other vehicle systems (brake control,“electronic steering wheel”, EPS or the like) and their data may be fedinto a bus system provided in the vehicle (for example CAN-BUS).

FIG. 3 illustrates how the electronic control unit ECU processes thedata signals received from the various sensors and generates data thatare stored in tables or description objects and are optionallyconstantly updated. An essential part of the system according to theinvention consists of an object table OT, in which are itemized objects(moving and possibly also static objects) located in the space in frontof the vehicle, together with their attributes (for example speedrelative to the speed of the driver's vehicle, the distance relative tothe driver's vehicle, the angular displacement or the lateral deviationrelative to the longitudinal axis of the driver's vehicle, how long acertain object is already included in the object table OT, how often ithas executed a change of lane, etc.), i.e. their object descriptions.From the object table OT and its history HIST, i.e. from objectdescriptions relating to the past, a vehicle environment description FUBis generated (i.e. whether the vehicle is moving in left-hand orright-hand traffic, is traveling on a motorway, a trunk road or in urbantraffic, how many lanes the road on which the vehicle is currentlytraveling has, in which lane the vehicle is currently situated, does theroad on which the vehicle is currently traveling have curves, and if soto what extent, or is the road straight, etc.), from which, togetherwith the history HIST of the object table OT and the current data in theobject selection OA, an object is selected from the object table OT astarget vehicle, which is used as “vehicle traveling in front” in orderto match the behavior of the driver's vehicle (speed vsoll, distancedsoll, etc.) to the driving behavior of the vehicle in front, as isshown in FIG. 4.

In order to define the mid line of the driver's lane in the spacedetected in front of the driver's vehicle, the radius of curvature R ofthe path curve of the centre of gravity of the driver's vehicle ismodified in the electronic control unit ECU on the basis of the changeof the angular bearing of the objects driving in front and the absoluteposition of the objects in front, compared to the instantaneouslypredicted lane. This means that in the electronic control unit ECU thedistance relative to the instantaneous position in the lane isdetermined for the driver's vehicle, and after its traversal the radiusof curvature R of the path curve of the centre of gravity of thedriver's vehicle changes. The extent of the change is in this connectiondetermined from the change in the angular bearing of the objects infront and on their absolute position relative to the instantaneouslypredicted lane. In other words a “predictive driving” takes place, inwhich the driver's vehicle can be prepared in advance for this, when andat what distance relative to the instantaneous position a reduction ofthe speed of the driver's vehicle is indicated, since the vehicles infront also happen to be in a curve situation.

In order to make as accurate a prediction as possible of how the radiusof curvature R of the path curve of the centre of gravity of thedriver's vehicle changes, the lateral speeds of the objects moving inthe space detected in front of the driver's vehicle are evaluated in theelectronic control unit ECU and are filed as attribute in the objecttable OT and updated. Similarly, the residence time of the objectsmoving in the space detected in front of the driver's vehicle as well astheir speed and distance in the direction of travel of the driver'svehicle are measured and processed in order to modify the radius ofcurvature R depending on their residence time or speed and/or distancefrom the driver's vehicle.

In the driving environment description FUB (FIG. 3) the course and thewidth of the lane of the driver's vehicle in the space in front of thelatter are also filed as description and updated. As illustrated inFIGS. 4 and 5, in the driving environment description FUB the width ofthe driver's lane is modified in the electronic control unit ECUdepending on the distance to the driver's vehicle, the maximum width inthe near region and in the far region being less than in the middleregion. In this connection the width of the driver's lane is specifiedin the electronic control unit ECU only at those points in the space infront of the driver's vehicle at which objects are also present in thedetected space in front of the driver's vehicle.

As is likewise illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5, in the driving environmentdescription (FIG. 2) the width of the driver's lane is modified in theelectronic control unit ECU depending on the distance of detectedobjects in the space in front of the driver's vehicle and on theorientation of a curve, so that at a large distance the width on theoutside of the curve decreases and at a middle distance the width on theinside of the curve increases. Also, the width of the driver's lane canbe widened in the electronic control unit ECU on both sides at the pointat which a target vehicle, on the driving behavior of which the drivingbehavior of the driver's vehicle is to be dependent, is located.

Furthermore, in the driving environment description FUB the driver'slane is widened on both sides by the electronic control unit (ECU), atthe point at which the target vehicle is located, depending on theduration for which the driving behavior of the driver's vehicle isdependent on the driving behavior of this target vehicle, (see FIG. 5).In a corresponding way the width of the driver's lane is modified in theelectronic control unit ECU depending on the speed of the driver'svehicle and/or on the curveness of the road on which the driver'svehicle is moving. In order to determine the curveness a procedureaccording to the invention is described in further detail hereinbelow.

A further feature that plays a r{circumflex over (o )}le in the choiceof an object as target vehicle is its lane. For this purpose the objectslocated in the space in front of the driver's vehicle are classified asregards their instantaneous position compared to the lane width at thecorresponding distance to the driver's vehicle. Moving objects detectedin front of the driver's vehicle are classified in the electroniccontrol unit ECU as objects in the driver's lane if an object situatedfurther than a minimum distance away is present in the driver's lane fora predetermined period of time that is related to the sum of theresidence time in one or both adjacent lanes, and which exceeds athreshold value. In this case this object is filed together with thecorresponding attributes in the object table OT. The classification of avehicle as being for example in the middle lane—in which the driver'svehicle is also located—presupposes that it is located within thecorridor with the corresponding width for the instantaneous distance ofthe vehicle. If the vehicle moves to the left outside the corridor thatdefines its own lane, it is then classified as driving in the left-handlane; if it moves to the right outside the corridor that defines its ownlane, it is classified as driving in the right-hand lane (see forexample FIG. 5). FIG. 5 a illustrates the probability distribution ofencountering a vehicle in a left-hand, middle or right-hand lane. Acorresponding value is filed in the object table OT and updated for eachof the objects.

The predetermined time frame may in this connection be modified in theelectronic control unit ECU depending on the speed of the driver'svehicle and filed in the object table OT.

In addition the threshold value can be reduced in the electronic controlunit ECU as the distance of the object from the driver's vehicle becomesless.

Furthermore, the residence duration of all objects for the existinglanes is determined with reference to the driver's lane and weightedover time. This is filed as an attribute in the object table OT. Morerecent appearances of objects in the lane of the driver's vehicle areevaluated higher than less recent appearances, and spatially moredistant appearances of objects in the lane of the driver's vehicle areevaluated lower than spatially closer appearances.

From the existing lanes a maximum of two moving objects are selected ineach case by the electronic control unit ECU as priority objects in theobject table OT and are provided with a corresponding characterizationas attribute in the object table OT if they have been detected as suchmoving in front of the driver's vehicle for a period of time above aminimum value. This respective duration is weighted less for objectslocated very close to the driver's vehicle (0-30 m) and for objectslocated very far from the driver's vehicle (120-200 m), and is weightedmore strongly for objects lying therebetween.

For each priority object characterized in this way in the object tableOT the electronic control unit ECU determines how far each priorityobject changes its lateral position relative to the mid line of the laneof the driver's vehicle. The sum of the mean values of the lateralposition changes of the priority objects is calculated by the electroniccontrol unit ECU as the change value of the lane of the driver's vehicleat the respective distance to the driver's vehicle, and is likewisefiled in the object table OT.

By means of the object selection OA (FIG. 4), the electronic controlunit ECU selects as target vehicle from the priority objects thatobject, on the driving behavior of which the driving behavior of thedriver's vehicle is to be dependent, that is moving in the lane of thedriver's vehicle, has a direction of movement over the ground thatcoincides substantially with the direction of movement of the driver'svehicle, and that has been detected in the space in front of thedriver's vehicle for a predetermined period of time that is read fromthe object table OT and its history HIST.

In this connection, for each of the priority objects the transversespeed relative to the mid line of the driver's lane is also included asan attribute in the object table OT, and updated. This enables thetarget vehicle to be selected also according to the criterion that thistransverse speed does not exceed a threshold value, which may possiblyalso change depending on the distance of the respective object from thedriver's vehicle.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, the background noise amplitude of thebearing angle with respect to the mid longitudinal axis of the driver'svehicle is recorded as an attribute in the object table OT for each ofthe objects selected as priority objects, and is optionally included inthe history HIST. In this way it is possible to evaluate in theelectronic control unit ECU the time progression of the background noiseamplitude of the bearing angle at each of the priority objects.According to the invention the background noise signal is to this endfiltered in a low-pass filter in order to remove short-term angleamplitudes. If a threshold value dependent on the distance is exceeded,this priority object is excluded from the choice of target vehicle, onthe driving behavior of which the driving behavior of the driver'svehicle is to be dependent.

Likewise a priority object is excluded from the choice of targetvehicle, on the driving behavior of which the driving behavior of thedriver's vehicle is to be dependent, if its distance from the driver'svehicle is greater than a distance threshold value, the absolute valueof the bearing angle to this priority object is greater than an anglethreshold value (for example 4°), and this priority object was notpreviously selected as target vehicle. Also, for this purpose thecontinuous recording of the background noise amplitude of the bearingangle with respect to the mid longitudinal axis of the driver's vehicleis very useful as an attribute in the object table OT for each of theobjects selected as priority objects and possibly their inclusion in thehistory HIST.

In the electronic control unit ECU a change of lane of the driver'svehicle is recognized if the change in the bearing angle at the targetvehicle, on the driving behavior of which the driving behavior of thedriver's vehicle is to be dependent, exceeds a specified threshold valueand is substantially equal to the turning rate of the driver's vehiclewith reverse sign. The turning rate of the driver's vehicle can bederived from the signal of the yawing rate sensor (see FIG. 1), whichsupplies a signal characteristic of the turning rate dPSI/dt of thevehicle about its vertical axis. Also necessary for this evaluation isthe continuous recording of the bearing angle of the target vehicle withrespect to the mid longitudinal axis of the driver's vehicle and itsbackground noise amplitude as an attribute in the object table OT andtheir inclusion in the history HIST.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the electronic control unit ECU a quantity K(t)related to the curvature of the lane of the driver's vehicle is fed asinput signal in parallel to a plurality of 1^(st) order low-pass filtersT1, T2, T3, T4 with different time constants. This quantity may forexample be the curve radius determined in the manner described above orits reciprocal value, or the turning rate of the vehicle.

The output signals from the low-pass filters and the input signal are ineach case compared with one in order to recognize in the progress of thedriver's vehicle on the road a transition from a curve of oneorientation to a curve of the opposite orientation. This takes place inthe electronic control unit ECU in such a way that a transition isrecognized if the output signals have a respective minimum interspacingand the output signal of a respective low-pass filter is smaller thanthe output signal of a low-pass filter with a smaller time constant andis larger than the output signal of a low-pass filter with a larger timeconstant, or the output signal of a respective low-pass filter is largerthan the output signal of a low-pass filter with a smaller time constantand is less than the output signal of a low-pass filter with a largertime constant.

In FIG. 7 this is illustrated in the way that the four comparisons usedin the example are carried out at two points in time X, Y. If theindividual results (output signals a, b, c, d) of the four comparisonschange in succession from 1, 1, 1, 1 to 0, 0, 0, 0, it can be concludedfrom this that a curve transition has taken place.

A further aspect of the system according to the invention consists inestablishing in which environment the driver's vehicle is currentlypresent. For this purpose, in the electronic control unit ECU an“environment speed” value is passed to the vehicle environmentdescription FUB (see FIG. 2) and regularly updated. In order todistinguish the type of road on which the driver's vehicle is traveling,characteristic values with non-fixed limits are determined in theelectronic control unit for three different road environments (urbantraffic, trunk road, motorway).

This value is approximated in stages from an instantaneous contributionat the speed at which the driver's vehicle is actually traveling. Theactual speed of the driver's vehicle is in this connection derived fromthe accelerator pedal signal FP (see FIG. 1) or from a tachometer signal(not described in further detail). According to the invention anapproximation is made from a higher value than the instantaneouscontribution of the actual speed of travel with a first speed rate andan approximation from a lower value than the instantaneous contributionof the actual speed of travel with a second speed rate, considerablyhigher than the first speed rate.

Also, the “environment speed” value is approximated in stages from aninstantaneous contribution at a value that lies in the motorway range(for example 150 km/hour), if at least two other objects movingsubstantially next to one another are present in front of the driver'svehicle.

In addition the “environment speed” value is approximated in stages froman instantaneous contribution at a lower limiting value. If a transverseacceleration that exceeds a threshold value were to result from the“environment speed” value and the instantaneous turning rate of thedriver's vehicle, the “environment speed” value is reduced at a fourthspeed rate, considerably higher than the third speed rate, until thistransverse acceleration no longer exceeds the threshold value.

Finally, the “environment speed” value is restricted to apredeterminable multiple (for example 0.5-1.5) of the desired speed ofthe driver's vehicle as well as to a predeterminable lower thresholdvalue (for example 40 km/hour) and a predeterminable upper thresholdvalue (for example 160 km/hour).

The “environment speed” value is important in many respects for thefunctioning of the system according to the invention, since itinfluences other parameters and is used in their determination,modification and updating. On the other hand further quantities derivedfrom the driving behavior of the driver's vehicle or other vehicles andthat provide feedback on the environment also have an influence on theseparameters. One of these derived quantities is the curvature progressionof the road on which the driver's vehicle is currently situated; inmathematical terms, this is the change in the behavior of the inverse ofthe curve radius over distance. According to the invention thiscurvature progression is differentiated over distance. Depending on theresult, a “curveness” characteristic value is obtained.

Depending on the result obtained by differentiating the curvatureprogression with respect to distance, with a sequence of curve changesover a specified stretch the “curveness” changes at a predetermined ratedependent on the speed of the driver's vehicle and/or on the distance tothe target vehicle.

In the electronic control unit ECU the curvature progression is alsodifferentiated with respect to distance and, in the case of longstraight sections over a specified stretch of road, depending on theresult the “curveness” value is reduced at a predetermined rate that ispreferably dependent on the speed of the driver's vehicle and/or on thedistance to the target vehicle and/or on the length of theaforementioned straight section.

Similarly, if it is recognized that the vehicle is traveling on anS-shaped curve, i.e. two curve sections of opposite orientation withouta straight intermediate part or with only a relatively shortintermediate part, then depending on the result the “curveness” value isincreased at a high rate.

A further factor influencing the “curveness” value is the integral ofthe turning rate signal dPSI/dt of the vehicle about its vertical axis,which reproduces the change in direction of the driver's vehicle overthe ground. Depending on this, the “curveness” value is increased at ahigh rate by a dynamic component. By ignoring the turning rate signalabove a predetermined value the dynamic component is restored again tothe previous value.

In this connection the system according to the invention envisagesadding the dynamic component to the “curveness” value or subtracting itfrom this value in the case of right-hand traffic only for right-handcurves, and in the case of left-hand traffic only for left-hand curves.The way and means in which right-hand traffic or left-hand traffic isrecognized is described further hereinbelow. The dynamic component isalso modified depending on the speed of the driver's vehicle.

Depending on the “curveness” determined in this way, the geometry of thedriving corridor can be comprehensively matched (for example shortened)to the choice of the target relevant to the regulation, so that anincorrect target choice in curve transitions is avoided.

Similarly, when selecting the target vehicle those vehicles arepreferred that “drift in and out” relatively little.

A further criterion in the choice of a priority object is that an objectthat is in the detection space in front of the driver's vehicle and thatfalls short of a predetermined distance and is not situated in the laneof the driver's vehicle, is excluded from the choice of priority object.

Also, an object that is situated outside a predetermined angle withrespect to the mid longitudinal axis of the driver's vehicle or thatexceeds a predetermined angle is excluded from the choice of priorityobject.

In order to recognize left-hand or right-hand traffic, for vehiclestraveling in the existing lanes in front of the driver's vehicle theirspeed is determined in the electronic control unit ECU, and from this acharacteristic value is derived that specifies whether the driver'svehicle is situated in left-hand traffic or right-hand traffic. This isillustrated in FIG. 8, in which a left-hand traffic situation (such asfor example in Great Britain or Japan) is shown at the top and aright-hand traffic situation (such as for example in continental Europeor in the USA) is shown at the bottom.

In order to recognize where the driver's vehicle is situated, thestretch already traversed by a predetermined number of the vehiclesdriving in the existing lanes in front of the driver's vehicle or aquantity correlated therewith is determined and related to thecorresponding quantity for the driver's vehicle. For this purpose thecharacteristic value is determined as the integral of the differentialspeeds of the vehicles of a first, preferably the left-hand lane, andthe differential speeds of the vehicles of a second, preferably theright-hand lane, in relation to the speed of the driver's vehicle. Inorder to increase the recognition certainty an upper threshold value anda lower threshold value are specified, whereby the electronic controlunit ECU generates a “right-hand traffic” signal and stores it in thetraffic environment description FUB if the characteristic value exceedsthe upper threshold value, and generates a “left-hand traffic signal”and stores it in the traffic environment description FUB if thecharacteristic value is less than the lower threshold value.

In this connection, only speeds of vehicles that exceed a predeterminedthreshold value (for example 10 km/hour) are considered for therecognition of left-hand or right-hand traffic. Also, for therecognition of left-hand or right-hand traffic vehicles traveling infront of the driver's vehicle are evaluated only if the radius of thelane exceeds a predetermined threshold value (for example 25-50 m).

In the evaluation for recognizing left-hand or right-hand traffic,characteristic values of vehicles with a negative relative speed withrespect to the speed of the driver's vehicle, the contribution of whichis greater than the speed of the driver's vehicle, are provided with aweighting factor. By means of the weighting factor it is determined towhat extent oncoming traffic is taken into account, in which connectionfor the vehicles recognized as oncoming traffic the relative speed istaken as negative.

A further functionality of the system according to the invention isdescribed hereinafter with respect to FIG. 9. If a target vehicle leavesthe detection space in front of the driver's vehicle, a control signalis generated in the electronic control unit ECU that restricts theinstantaneous speed or the instantaneous acceleration of the driver'svehicle, at least for a stretch, to a value that substantiallycorresponds at most to the distance X between the driver's vehicle andthe target vehicle at the time the latter leaves the detection space.

For this purpose the distance X between the driver's vehicle and thetarget vehicle is constantly measured. If the target vehicle leaves thedetection space of the radar sensor RS of the driver's vehicle, thedistance is reduced by a shortening stretch DX to an effective distanceXeff at the time the target vehicle leaves the detection space. Thisshortening stretch DX depends on the environment (motorway, trunk road,urban traffic), the speed of the target vehicle at the time it leavesthe detection space, the instantaneous speed of the driver's vehicle,the curve radii of curves already traversed within a predeterminedperiod of time in the past, or the like.

Since the target vehicle in front of the driver's vehicle “disappears”if it is traveling along a curve while the driver's vehicle is stilltraveling along a straight section, this would mean that the ACC systemwould increase the speed of the driver's vehicle. Consequently the speedwhen entering the curve would possibly be too high, so that the driverwould have to brake sharply. The functionality according to theinvention avoids this effect by generating a control signal thatsuppresses this increase in speed for a predetermined period of time. Inthis connection the control signal is characteristic of a maximum periodof time—and is emitted for a correspondingly long time—which is obtainedfrom the instantaneous speed of the driver's vehicle and the distance Xbetween the driver's vehicle and the target vehicle at the time thelatter leaves the detection space or the effective distance Xeff.

1. System for evaluating the traffic environment of a motor vehicle andfor influencing the speed of the motor vehicle in its own traffic lane,comprising an electronic control unit (ECU), which is connected to asignal transmitter that produces a signal characteristic of the desiredspeed of the motor vehicle, a signal transmitter that produces a signalcharacteristic of the yaw of the motor vehicle about its vertical axis,a signal transmitter that produces a signal characteristic of thearticles situated, in the direction of travel of the motor vehicle, infront of the motor vehicle in terms of their spacing and orientationrelative to the motor vehicle and which reproduces at least one of (i)the speed relative to the speed of the system motor vehicle; (ii) thespacing relative to the system motor vehicle; and (iii) the angularoffset or the cross track distance relative to the vehicle longitudinalaxis of the system motor vehicle, and a signal transmitter that producesa signal characteristic of the speed of at least one wheel of the motorvehicle, and which is connected to at least one control device, whichinfluences the performance of the motor vehicle, in order to supply saiddevice with output signals derived from the performance of the motorvehicle situated in front of the system motor vehicle, in which in theelectronic control unit (ECU) the width of the system motor vehicletraffic lane is modified in dependence upon the distance of articlesdetected in the space in front of the system motor vehicle from thesystem motor vehicle, wherein the width in the close range and in theremote range is smaller than in the medium range.
 2. System according toclaim 1, wherein in the electronic control unit (ECU) the width of thesystem motor vehicle traffic lane is defined only at points in the spacein front of the system motor vehicle where there are articles situatedin the sensed space in front of the system motor vehicle.
 3. Systemaccording to claim 1, wherein in the electronic control unit (ECU) thewidth of the system motor vehicle traffic lane is modified in dependenceupon the distance of articles detected in the space in front of thesystem motor vehicle and upon the orientation of a curve in such a waythat at a large distance the width decreases at the curve outer side andthe width at a medium distance increases at the curve inner side. 4.System according to claim 1, wherein in the electronic control unit(ECU) the width of the system motor vehicle traffic lane is widened atone or both sides at the point where a target motor vehicle is situated,upon the performance of which the performance of the system motorvehicle is to be dependent.
 5. System according to claim 4, wherein inthe electronic control unit (ECU) in dependence upon the length of time,for which the performance of the system motor vehicle is dependent uponthe performance of said target vehicle, the width of the system motorvehicle traffic lane is increased at one or both sides at the pointwhere the target motor vehicle is situated.
 6. System according to claim1, wherein in the electronic control unit (ECU) the width of the systemmotor vehicle traffic lane is modified in dependence upon the curvinessof the road, on which the system motor vehicle is situated.
 7. Systemaccording to claim 1, wherein in the electronic control unit (ECU) thewidth of the system motor vehicle traffic lane is modified in dependenceupon the speed of the system motor vehicle.
 8. System for evaluating thetraffic environment of a system motor vehicle and for influencing thespeed of the system motor vehicle in the system motor vehicle's trafficlane, comprising a first signal transmitter that produces a signalcharacteristic of the desired speed of the system motor vehicle, asecond signal transmitter that produces a signal characteristic of theyaw of the system motor vehicle about its vertical axis, a third signaltransmitter that produces a signal characteristic of an article situatedin front of the system motor vehicle in the direction of travel of thesystem motor vehicle in terms of the spacing and orientation of thearticle relative to the system motor vehicle and which reproduces atleast one of: (i) the speed of the article relative to the speed of thesystem motor vehicle; (ii) the spacing of the article relative to thesystem motor vehicle; and (iii) the angular offset or the cross trackdistance of the article relative to the vehicle longitudinal axis of thesystem motor vehicle; a fourth signal transmitter that produces a signalcharacteristic of the speed of at least one wheel of the system motorvehicle; an electronic control unit (ECU) which recives the signalsproduced by the first, second, third, and fourth signal transmitters,and which modifies the width of the system motor vehicle traffic lane independence upon the distance between the system motor vehicle and thearticle detected in the space in front of the system motor vehicle suchthat the width in the close range and in the remote range is smallerthan in the medium range, the electronic control unit (ECU) generatingan output signal based upon the performance of the system motor vehicleand the detection of the article situated in front of the system motorvehicle; and at least one control device which influences theperformance of the system motor vehicle based at least in part upon theoutput signal of the electronic control unit (ECU).
 9. The systemaccording to claim 8, wherein the article in front of the system motorvehicle is another motor vehicle.